"Freedom of speech and of the press are fundamental rights which are safeguarded by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. [...] The right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press, and is equally fundamental. As this Court said in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 552: The very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably for consultation in respect to public affairs and to petition for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment of the Federal Constitution expressly guarantees that right against abridgment by Congress. But explicit mention there does not argue exclusion elsewhere. For the right is one that cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all civil and political institutions — principles which the Fourteenth Amendment embodies in the general terms of its due process clause. [...] These rights may be abused by using speech or press or assembly in order to incite to violence and crime. The people, through their legislatures may protect themselves against that abuse. But the legislative intervention, can find constitutional justification only by dealing with the abuse. The rights themselves must not be curtailed. The greater the importance of safeguarding the community from incitements to the overthrow of our institutions by force and violence, the more imperative is the need to preserve inviolate the constitutional rights of free speech, free press and free assembly in order to maintain the opportunity for free political discussion, to the end that government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes, if desired, may be obtained by peaceful means. Therein lies the security of the Republic, the very foundation of constitutional government."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Charles Evans Hughes, De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 365 (1937).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
71 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by First Amendment to the United States Constitution →
Related Quotes
"The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion nor touching or abridging the liber…"
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion…"
"No religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed."
"Congress shall make no laws touching religion, or infringing the rights of conscience."
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe the rights …"
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the rights of co…"
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
"Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of r…"
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
"In short, the First Amendment does not "belong" to any definable category of persons or entities: it belongs to all w…"